JOLIET, Ill. — Denny Hamlin credited a fast car, overnight adjustments and a little bit of good fortune after edging Kyle Larson by the narrowest of margins to win the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series eero 400 at Chicagoland Speedway. Hamlin turned a lap of 178.241 mph in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, beating Larson’s 178.235 mph lap by just .001 seconds.
Hamlin will lead the field to green alongside Larson on the front row as NASCAR returns to Chicagoland’s 1.5-mile oval. Chris Buescher qualified third, Brad Keselowski fourth and Ty Gibbs fifth.
Despite earning the pole, Hamlin said circumstances during qualifying played a role.
“I don’t want to continue to underplay it, but we got really fortunate,” Hamlin said. “The last 12 cars had full sun. The last few had like 90% sun, but I think it was the deciding factor. We saw right after I went, the track got hotter and seems like the corner speeds of those guys started to slow down.”
Hamlin admitted he wasn’t expecting a pole-winning run after Friday’s practice and testing sessions.
“This is very surprising, truthfully,” Hamlin said. “I was actually thinking that I would take the rainout in P19, but once I ran the lap I thought it would put us somewhere in the top-12 and I was happy with that.”
The veteran said Joe Gibbs Racing made significant changes overnight after struggling with the balance of his Toyota during Friday’s track activity.
“They did a really good job with my car overnight,” Hamlin said. “We worked for a long time with the team trying to figure out what I need to go faster and execute around here.”
Larson, who has long excelled on intermediate tracks, remains one of Hamlin’s biggest concerns heading into Sunday’s race.
“My personal opinion, Larson’s the best driver at this racetrack, so he’s going to be someone to contend with,” Hamlin said.
Christopher Bell qualified sixth, followed by Chase Briscoe, Bubba Wallace, Chase Elliott and William Byron to complete the top 10.
Among other notable qualifiers, Tyler Reddick starts 13th, Ryan Blaney 14th, Ross Chastain 19th and rookie Connor Zilisch 21st. Joey Logano will roll off 31st after a disappointing qualifying effort.
Hamlin also expects lessons learned during qualifying to carry over into race trim.
“What we learned overnight is something we will definitely take into our race tomorrow,” he said.
Top 10 Starting Positions
Denny Hamlin, ToyotaKyle Larson, ChevroletChris Buescher, FordBrad Keselowski, FordTy Gibbs, ToyotaChristopher Bell, ToyotaChase Briscoe, ToyotaBubba Wallace, ToyotaChase Elliott, ChevroletWilliam Byron, Chevrolet